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Franklin D. Roosevelt/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. Tim and Moby are visiting The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. They look at a life-size sculpture of Roosevelt and a small dog. Moby points at the figure of the dog. MOBY: Beep. TIM: That's Fala, President Roosevelt's dog. MOBY: Beep. Moby picks up a stick from the ground and throws it past the figure of Fala. TIM: Um, it's just a statue, you know. He's not gonna fetch. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, my mom said FDR was the greatest president. What was so special about him? From, Emmy (Bozeman, Montana). Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States. He served from 1933 to 1945, and he was special for a lot of reasons. An image shows Franklin Delano Roosevelt with an American flag. TIM: For starters, he was elected to four terms. No other president has served more than two! An image of Roosevelt taking the Presidential Oath of Office is repeated four times. TIM: Roosevelt was born in 1882 to a wealthy family in upstate New York. He attended the finest schools and entered politics at age 28. He served in the New York State Senate and then became Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy. An animation depicts Roosevelt as a student at Harvard, a New York State Senator, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. TIM: In 1920, he ran as the Democratic Party's nominee for the vice president of the United States! An image shows a campaign poster from 1920, with James M. Cox as the candidate for president and Roosevelt as the candidate for vice president. TIM: Roosevelt lost that election, but a bigger challenge was to come. In 1921, an illness paralyzed him from the waist down. He went through years of difficult physical therapy, but never lost his good spirits or determination. An image shows Roosevelt in a wheelchair with a fluffy dog on his lap. He is smiling at a young girl who stands next to him. TIM: Although he needed a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he fought hard to regain every bit of mobility he could. And he never let the public know how badly the disease affected him. He even learned to stand and walk with support from canes, braces, and other people. An image shows Roosevelt in the stands at a baseball game, getting ready to throw out the first pitch. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right, illness couldn't keep FDR away from politics. In 1928, he was elected governor of New York State. An animation shows FDR as New York's governor. There is a political map of New York in the background. TIM: The Democrats nominated him for president in 1932, and he easily defeated the sitting president, Herbert Hoover. An animation shows FDR waving to a crowd at an election rally. The crowd is holding signs in support of his run for president. TIM: When Roosevelt took office, the Great Depression was in full swing, and the nation was in bad shape. An animated graphic represents plummeting financial value in the Great Depression. TIM: One-quarter of the population was unemployed. An animation shows a man reading a sign in a store window. Text on the sign reads: Not Hiring. TIM: Thousands had lost their life savings after their banks went under. And farms and businesses across the country were on the brink of failure. Images of a barn and silo and a factory appear on a map of the United States. The images shrink to indicate their failure. TIM: But Roosevelt himself projected optimism and confidence. An animation shows Roosevelt sitting at a desk in a confident stance. TIM: After he was sworn in, he told the country that the only thing it had to fear was fear itself! An animation shows Roosevelt standing behind a presidential speaker's podium. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, during the first hundred days of his term, Roosevelt worked with Congress to enact many new policies. These policies became known as the New Deal. Unemployed people were given jobs on big public-works projects. Farmers got help keeping up the payments on their property. The stock market was regulated, or monitored, and the banking system was reformed, preventing people from losing their savings. Text in the background reads: New Deal. Images appear of a city worker, a farmer, a stock market chart, and a bank. TIM: A lot of New Deal programs remain in place today. For example, millions of Americans still depend on Social Security, which provides government aid to seniors and the needy! An animation shows a giant hand, symbolizing the government, giving out a check. In the background is the U.S. Capitol Building. TIM: Roosevelt explained his policies over the radio, in a series of short, simple addresses called fireside chats. An animation shows a family seated in front of a blazing fireplace in their living room. They are listening to a radio. TIM: FDR's wife, Eleanor, also played a big role in his administration. She traveled the country acting as the president's eyes and ears, listening to people's problems on his behalf. An image shows Eleanor Roosevelt and a map of the United States. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, FDR's policies were popular, but not everyone supported them. They cost a whole lot of money, and expanded the power of the federal government. An animation shows a huge pile of currency in front of the U.S. Capitol Building. TIM: And the U.S. economy didn't fully recover until the early 1940s, when the factories went into overdrive to prepare for World War II. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right, about that war. During the late 1930s, Germany, Japan, and Italy started threatening their neighbors. Images show the leaders of Germany, Japan, and Italy with a map showing each country. TIM: Roosevelt wanted to help the countries that were being threatened. But most Americans didn't want to get involved in the affairs of other nations. This attitude was called isolationism. An image shows a political button. Text on the button reads: Keep U.S. out of war. TIM: Things changed when Germany conquered Western Europe, and Japan took over a part of China. Animated maps illustrate the conquests that Tim describes. TIM: Roosevelt began building up the U.S. military. An image shows a large number of military planes. TIM: And his Lend-Lease Act sent 50 billion dollars' worth of aid to France, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. An animation shows a tank being loaded onto a battleship. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, the U.S. finally joined the war in December 1941, after Japan bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. An animation depicts the air attack on Pearl Harbor. TIM: Roosevelt worked with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin to coordinate the effort against Nazi Germany. An image shows Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin seated together at the Yalta Conference following the end of World War II. TIM: The Big Three also helped plan the United Nations, an international peace organization. An animation shows the United Nations building, with its row of international flags flapping in the breeze. TIM: But Roosevelt never got to see the end of the war. He died in April 1945, a few months after being elected to his fourth term. An image shows a newspaper headline announcing Roosevelt's death. TIM: His vice president, Harry Truman, took over, and the war ended within the year. An image shows Harry Truman with an American flag. MOBY: Beep. Moby and Tim are looking at the statue of FDR and Fala. TIM: Yep, he was a pretty amazing president, all right. MOBY: Beep. Moby's chest plate opens. He removes a hand-held blowtorch and a hammer. While loud noises happen, he walks to the figure of Fala the dog and turns it into a robot. MOBY: Beep. Moby points at something. Fala barks and runs off. A moment later, he returns with a branch from a cherry-blossom tree in his mouth. He sits and holds the branch, wagging his tail. TIM: Congratulations, Moby. You've ruined yet another national monument.Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts